


It's Not About the Schedule

by lobsterkaijin



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Discord: The Kingdom of Shipping (Dr. STONE), Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Gift Fic, Manga Spoiler Characters, Modern Era, TKSSecretSanta2020, TKSevent, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:48:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28037940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lobsterkaijin/pseuds/lobsterkaijin
Summary: Minami and Tsukasa go to Puerto Vallarta.
Relationships: Hokutouzai Minami/Shishiou Tsukasa
Comments: 5
Kudos: 5
Collections: 2020 TKS Secret Santa





	It's Not About the Schedule

**Author's Note:**

> For the TKS Secret Santa 2020 Event! I hope you enjoy, Dara!

“Strike a pose, darling.”

It may sound sweet to the ignorant onlooker, but the scolding he received for his twenty-fifth peace sign in a row is fresh on his mind. She’d wanted something unique, something that speaks to her, something that screams ‘Tsukasa Shishiō,’ but he’s not sure what she’s looking for, and trying to copy what he’s seen other couples earns him a pout. Asking her how he should pose gets a similar response, “You know yourself better than I do.” Every time she has to move the camera from her face to look at him, he knows he’s messed it up. Behind that camera, she’s not his girlfriend Minami Hokutozai, but a drill sergeant wearing her face.

Still, he tries for her, flashing a brilliant smile. “How’s this?”

“Nobody’s _happy_ going through security. Try something a little more realistic.” He frowns instead, and she pulls away from the camera. Uh oh. “Even your frowns look like they’re made of marble.”

“I can’t help how I look.”

“Next in line, please.” Saved by the officer.

Minami stalls the lineup for fifteen minutes. They only let her go when she threatens to report them for harassment and flashes her ID badge, where the Daily Beagle’s company logo is printed in bright red next to a picture of her from when she first started working there. Thank goodness they’re smart enough to avoid a scandal and let her through.

“Hmph, the nerve of those goons. These cameras aren’t just for show!”

Tsukasa raises an eyebrow. “If it were just the cameras, there wouldn’t have been a problem. You’ve brought enough equipment for an entire news crew.”

“Because I need it to capture every moment between us perfectly! These will be our only memories when we’re old and grey.” She flutters her eyelashes at him. “You want to be able to remember me, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then pose like you mean it next time!”

The plane ride has much room for improvement. Between her narrating their journey into her recording device, shuffling the itinerary around every five minutes, and taking photos of him falling in and out of sleep, he’s seeing flashing lights behind his eyelids and hearing camera clicks in his dreams. The landing feels fake. Have they even left their apartment?

Minami squeals excitedly, squeezing his arm. “Look at that beautiful ocean! And the beaches! Oh Tsukasa, we’ve got to do a romantic walk at sunset at least once! But first—” She almost whacks him in the face with her camera bag. “We need to commemorate our landing with a photo!”

From the airport to the bus to the resort, Tsukasa counts at least another fifty photos, with the only exception being customs due to the no electronics rule. Check-in crawls by, and they’re in their room just before Tsukasa sweats himself out of existence. While Minami agonizes over their wasted day and how she’s going to have to push back their whole schedule, Tsukasa strips the sticky Mexican air from his body and hops into the shower, but when he cannot figure out all the dials and buttons and Minami hears him curse all technology, he has to put the shower on hold while his technologically adept partner fiddles around the faucets for him. 

Before she can give him space, he steps in with her.

He thought he had more strength, but he could not fight the tropical heat, and when he makes it to the bed, all his resistance is sapped. He falls asleep as Minami is deciding where they’d go for dinner.

“Rise and shine!”

Because Tsukasa is so jet-lagged, Minami switches day two and day four on the schedule to allow for a lazy day. They spent their second day hitting the sand, where a group of young men ask Tsukasa to sub in for one of their friends in a game of beach volleyball. The other team is so thoroughly decimated they beg on their knees for Tsukasa to join them next time. Too bad their schedule doesn’t have room for anymore sports. The next few days are fully booked! They end their day with a romantic dinner overlooking the water, and it’s almost perfect until Minami pulls out the camera, ordering Tsukasa to set his fork down. 

“You can’t eat anymore until I get the money shot!”

When she lets him go, his food is cold and his beer is flat.

They take a tour bus down to the main town on the third day. Minami brings so many bags, it feels like she’s prepared to be stranded at sea for thirty days. Tsukasa assures the bus driver he’ll be able to carry them all without help, just so that he doesn’t have to look through all those different bags to find a wallet to dig out a tip for the guy. Besides, he looks like he’ll break his back carrying anything heavier than an empty plastic bag. These resorts really need to stop exploiting seniors for slave wages.

“Smile, darling!” Minami snaps a photo of him as he’s coming off the bus. He’s certain he looks sweaty and less than appealing with the touristy hat he’s got on, but to her, he’s nothing less than perfect, if not a little stone-faced. Her very own Adonis, maybe she’ll see him in one of the paintings in the Lady Guadalupe Church, which they’ve only got forty minutes to get to. With the snail’s pace the tour group is going at, they won’t make it ‘til next year!

She only grabs one bag from ten to hang off her shoulder, the one with the portable camera and tripod, and gives him a quick peck to silence whatever comment he was about to make. “We have a slope to walk up, so get moving!”

Minami makes it a point of pride that they arrive back at the bus before everyone else, and Tsukasa is proud of her too, until about half an hour later when they’ve been baking in the sun, cursing the other tourists in their group for not knowing what it meant to be on time. “How much can we pay the driver to drive off without them?” Tsukasa asks, finishing off his water bottle.

“I don’t think Yen is worth as much as US dollars,” Minami whines. “And I might’ve spent the last of our daily allowance at that candy store.”

Tsukasa sits up. “How will we pay for the seaside restaurant?”

“What seaside restaurant?”

“The last stop on this tour, it’s here on the map.” He fishes it out of his back pocket, and sure enough, there it is, a big red number eight.

“I—” She pales. “I didn’t account for another stop, so I paid the Brazilian restaurant guy a little extra to save us a reservation! Now we’re going to miss the reservation _and_ the night show!”

“Hi, ‘scuse me?” The both of them look up to see one of the Americans in their group, a lanky fellow with glasses thick enough to make his eyes look like telescopes, standing by himself under the shade. Tsukasa recalls his other companions, both of which were nowhere to be seen. If he was left behind, then a closer look tells them why. The man’s skin is breaking out into red bumps; an allergy to the sun. Poor guy, and he chose Mexico as a vacation spot? “You sound like you’re in trouble. I can help you out!”

Minami, the only one of them that can understand English, stands up and shakes hands with the guy. “Really? Thank you—?”

“The name’s Max!”

“Thanks, Max! You’re very nice for an American!”

Tsukasa’s eyes widen, but Max laughs. “I’m a Canadian, actually. My friends Carlos and Luna are the American ones.”

“You speak Japanese well,” Tsukasa remarks. “You understood our whole conversation?”

“Well, bits and pieces, anyway. The head of our research department is bringing in an exchange student from Japan, so we’ve been brushing up on our Japanese. I just know that you guys need some help.”

Minami sighs. “Yes, you’re right. We don’t have any money for the seaside restaurant and we’ve already got a reservation elsewhere…”

“Well why don’tcha let us take care of that, then?” Just in time, Carlos shows up with Luna trailing behind him under an umbrella. “We’ll spot you this time!”

Both Minami and Tsukasa blank. “Spot…?”

“It means they’ll pay for you.” Luna finds a place with Max under the shade.

“Thank you, you’re very kind.” Tsukasa shakes hands with Carlos. He’s got a nice strong grip. “Any way we can repay you—”

“No way, don’t mention it, bud. Just make for good dinner partners.” Carlos gives him a fist bump. No one has ever fist-bumped Tsukasa before, and he stares at his hand long after it’s passed.

The seaside restaurant is exquisite, with a calming breeze, drinks served in coconuts, and a soft guitar wafting in from outside. It doesn’t take long for the pair to forget they were ever on a schedule when Carlos entertains them with stories of his time spent in the Caribbean with a non-profit organization for the protection of whales, and Max describes in great and confusing detail what their research entails (something to do with marine life and underwater agriculture?). Luna and Minami bond over their shopping hauls of the day, and Tsukasa drinks the men under the table. By the time they return to the resort, they’ve exchanged numbers and agreed to hang out again.

There’s a storm waiting for them when they get to the room. Tsukasa’s just coming out of the shower when he hears Minami cry out, “Ah! No, I forgot to take photos! Today’s a total waste, ugh!”

Tsukasa takes a seat beside her on the floor. “Today was not a waste.”

“But the photos… How are we going to remember the fun we had today? And our schedule was ruined too. If we move the night show to tomorrow night, then we miss the fiesta, but if we attend the fiesta, then we can’t see the night show on our last day, and I heard they’re really something special…”

“Minami.”

She sniffles. “What is it?”

He cups her face. “I love the look you get when you plan out every aspect of your life. You get so excited to make a schedule, and for the most part, you always have everything under control. Being with you has shaped me into a more organized man.”

“Do you mean that?”

Tsukasa smiles. “Do you remember how many towels I used to own before I met you?”

She breaks into a giggle. “None. You just had a roll of paper towels.”

“And how many signings have I missed since you came into my life?”

“None, now that I set up twenty reminders for each one.”

“Do I ever misplace things?”

“Not since I designated a spot for every item you own.”

“Have I forgotten a single memory of our time spent together?”

“No, but that’s because I’m always photographing—”

“That’s where you’re wrong.”

Minami pouts. “I know I have a habit of taking too many…”

Tsukasa laughs. “I remember all our time together because it’s precious to me. I’m always looking at you, even when you’re looking at something else. I won’t forget all of this because my memories with you are the fondest.”

“You mean it?”

He nods. “Of course. Now stop worrying about the schedule.”

She throws herself into his arms, hugging him so tight he’s surprised he can still draw breath. “Oh Tsukasa! Let’s throw it away then! We’re too far gone, anyways. Tomorrow we’ll do whatever we feel like doing, okay?”

Tsukasa grins at that. “ _Anything_ we feel like doing?”

She flushes and pushes off of him. “Tsukasa! You— Ugh. I’m taking a shower. You stay right there!”

“Okay, okay.” He chuckles in a way that says he absolutely won’t, and follows into the shower after her when she’s not looking.


End file.
